Chilean Police Use Tear Gas To Halt Protest

SANTIAGO, CHILE — Police fired tear gas at labor leaders, foreign legislators and protesters Tuesday to break up a march against the military government of President Augusto Pinochet.

About 100 people were arrested and one protester was shot in the head and seriously wounded.

The confrontation began as police and soldiers came to disperse demonstrators who gathered downtown for the march to protest Pinochet's 13 years in power.

''The military dictatorship is going to fall,'' demonstrators shouted before being hit with volleys of tear gas.

Soldiers also jostled foreign legislators attending a conference seeking restoration of democracy in Chile. Police later dispersed a second group of foreign politicians with tear gas, said a member of the delegation.

Soldiers fired warning shots above the heads of demonstrators, sealed off a large section of downtown Santiago and pointed guns at civilians, who were ordered by police to leave the area.

A power failure blacked out Santiago and a 350-mile section of central Chile, but soldiers used spotlights to ensure that the streets were cleared of civilians.

Fourteen Argentine politicians also were roughed up in the confrontation. The politicians, who were pushed and shoved by soldiers, were walking to a hotel where 65 politicians from 12 European and South American countries were meeting to back Chilean opposition parties seeking democratic change in the South American nation.

Pinochet's government warned it could not guarantee the safety of the foreign legislators and accused them of meddling in Chile's internal affairs.